The Flyers have not enjoyed the kind of start that most had anticipated entering the lockout shortened season. After starting the season 0-3-0 they took took seven of eight points on their most recent homestand and currently sit at 6-7-1 with two days off before taking on New Jersey on the road on Friday night. The injury bug has hit the Flyers hard in the early going. They lost last year’s leading goal-scorer Scott Hartnell after the third game of the season with a broken foot. He is expected to return at the end of the month. An already thin defensive corps got thinner when Andrej Meszaros was knocked out in the fourth game of the year with a shoulder injury. Captain Claude Giroux has just four points in his last nine games and has been held scoreless in eight of the 14 games this year. Giroux’s drop off after his stellar 93 point season last year has been cause for concern.Questions have begun to arise about whether Giroux needs a goal-scoring winger to play alongside him. Sources say that the Flyers will wait until Scott Hartnell comes back before they opt to make a move. There is still a possibility that the Flyers play does not improve after the return of Hartnell. If that becomes the case and they cannot right the ship, who might the Flyers take a look at?

Big Guns:

Flames RW Jarome Iginla, 35 years old - Don’t let the age scare you, Iginla is still a force on the wing. He is coming off of a 32 goal, 67 point season last year for a Calgary team that missed the playoffs. He is one year removed from a 43 goal, 86 point year in 2010-11. These are not just flash in the pan seasons either. The 6’1” 207 lbs. Iginla has scored 31 or more goals every season since 2000-01. This season he has one goal and five assists. He is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Two issues arise with trading for Iginla. First, he would likely cost a younger player which raises the question, how much is he worth? What are the team’s chances of resigning him at the end of the season? The second issue is his cap hit which sits at $7 million. That would require putting Chris Pronger and Matt Walker on LTIR and moving money around to fit Iginla in.

Ducks RW Corey Perry, 27 years old – Perry is a sniper. Entering this season, Perry had accumulated 87 goals over the past two seasons, including a 50 goal performance in 2010-11 that earned him the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP. The 6’3” 210 lbs. winger is going to be in high demand at the trade deadline if the Ducks are willing to shop him. Perry carries a $5.325 million cap hit. He is slated to become a free agent after the season and he will be in high demand this summer as well. A trade for Perry would likely cost the Flyers solid roster players and top prospects/young players.

Ducks RW Bobby Ryan, 25 years old – By this point in the season, Ryan has become a household name for Flyers fans everywhere. The Flyers were rumored to be pursuing the Cherry Hill, New Jersey native around the NHL draft last June and into July after missing out on Zach Parise. Since his rookie season in 2008-09, Ryan has scored 31 or more goals every year and has not posted fewer than 57 points. This year he is off to a solid start with four goals and 11 points in the season. The 6’1” 207 lbs. speedy winger is signed through the 2014-15 season with a cap hit of $5.1 million.

Coyotes D Keith Yandle, 26 years old – He is really the only big named defenseman that has been rumored to be on the trading block. The Flyers were linked to Yandle over the summer. At the draft they were reportedly looking at Yandle, after Ryan Suter signed in Minnesota Yandle reappeared in connection with the Flyers, and the fans brought Yandle back into the mix after Nashville matched the Shea Weber contract although the teams interest did not seem to mirror the fan’s interest. Yandle is an offensive defenseman. He has posted 11 or more goals in each of the last three seasons while putting up 41, 59, and 43 points respectively. Yandle is signed through the 2015-16 season at a reasonable $5.25 million. The 6’1” 190 lbs. defenseman would come at a high cost as defensemen always come at a high cost, especially an elite one like Yandle that is signed long-term for a reasonable price.

Other Possibilities:

Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf, 27 years old – He does not fit the bill of exactly what the Flyers are looking for to help out Giroux on the wing but the 6’4” 217 lbs. center is a force on the ice. He is very good at faceoffs having won 53.4% of his faceoffs this year. Getzlaf was more of a scorer early in his career scoring 25, 24, and 25 goals respectively from 2006-2009. His beat season came in 2008-09 when he scored 25 goals and dished out 66 assists for 91 points. With the emergence of Perry and Ryan, the physical Getzlaf has become more of a distributor. He is coming off of a down year scoring only 11 goals and dishing out 46 assists for 57 points. Like Perry, he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. He also carries a $5.325 million cap hit for the rest of this season.

David Perron

Blues LWs David Perron (24 years old) and Alexander Steen (28 years old) – The Flyers reportedly had scouts in attendance at a recent Blues game. No word on who the Flyers were looking at but the Blues had scouts in Toronto on Monday night taking in the Flyers-Maple Leafs game. After beginning the season 6-1-0, the Blues are 0-4-1 in their last five games and might be looking for a shakeup. The Blues need defensive help but so do the Flyers. The Flyers need help up front as well. Both Perron and Steen would fit. Perron, 24, is coming off of a 21 goal, 42 point season last year. The 6’0” 196 lbs. winger has three goals and six assists in 12 games this season. Steen, who turns 29 on March 1st, is coming off of a 15 goal and 13 assist performance last season. At 6’0” 212 lbs. Steen is the larger of the two forwards but Perron has the brighter upside and, likely, the higher cost. Perron is signed through 2016 with a cap hit of $3.813 million while Steen is signed through next season with a $3.362 million cap hit. It is unclear whether either of these two players are available or what the Blues might want in return.

Stars RW Jaromir Jagr, turns 41 on February 15th – Wouldn’t this be fun? He would be welcomed back in Philadelphia with open arms. Let’s step back and think, the major difference for Giroux this year vs. last year is the presence of Jagr as his right wing. Jagr has been dealing with some injury issues that he dealt with last year with the Flyers but has still been productive for the Stars. He has four goals and five assists in 12 games. In 73 games last year for the Flyers, Jagr scored 19 goals and had 35 assists. If the Stars are falling out of contention, Jagr could be on the block. He carries a $4.55 million cap hit which might be hard to squeeze in given the current state of the Flyers cap.The Flyers, without putting Pronger and Walker on LTIR and including Boucher and Zolnierczyk on the roster, do not have a lot of cap space. In fact, they actually have the lowest amount of cap space in the NHL at just $442,647 which makes it difficult to acquire top talent. Maybe the Flyers can strike gold this year by acquiring a midlevel guy who makes a major impact, like Nick Grossmann did last season.-Steve DolanFollow Steve on Twitter @SDolan3Follow Whiz Wit on Twitter @WhizWitSports